Korcula, a slightly hidden gem

We fell in love with Korcula quickly and immediately regretted that we were only staying two nights on this island.We then started making plans to 1) come back as soon as possible and 2) buy a house here so we could live on this island permanently, or at least for half of the year.

Korcula was a welcome change from Hvar. It’s quiet and beautiful, and the people are very warm and friendly. The old town is small with some nice restaurants lined up along the water. There is a lot to explore outside of the old town; we only got to see a portion of the island while we were there but everything we saw was wonderful. The old town is like others in Croatia – medieval town, narrow stone streets, fortress walls, lots of stairs. We had a cab driver that took us around the whole time we were there (Taxi Nikola) – Nikola was amazing, told us all about the island, stopped places for us to take photos, took us to see homes for sale! A lot of wine is produced on this island, as well as on the peninsula across the water so you should definitely try all of the local wines here.

Getting There: We took the ferry from Hvar – this was nicest of all of the ferries – not very crowded, had wifi. The ride takes about 90 minutes. Once we arrived, we took a taxi from the harbor to our hotel. Not tons of taxis there, but a few. Recommend setting up a transfer with your hotel if that is an option.

Where to Stay

View from our terrace

We stayed at Villa Tea, just slightly outside of the old town, about 20 minutes walking. Definitely recommend staying outside of the town in Korcula as it is nicer to explore outside of just the town while you are on the island. Again there were a lot of stairs to climb to our room, but totally worth it for the views. We had a 2 bed/2 bath with kitchen and a very large terrace. There’s also a pool here, and we had breakfast included during our stay. Everything was so comfortable, we could have stayed here for a week! Upon our arrival there was a gift of wine and cookies waiting for us. The breakfast was very good but often too much food!

Beaches

After studying maps and recommendations for beaches, we settled on Pupnustka Luka, which was recommended by many people we met as the best beach on the island. The beach was about 20-30 minutes drive from our hotel so we got to see more of the island. The beach is a small cove, pebble beach. There are chairs for rent and a restaurant which serves salads, sandwiches, and drinks. Very quiet and peaceful, there are not many people here which was lovely.

Dining & Drinking in Korcula

House posip and rakije

Most incredible cheesecake

Konoba Mate -Absolutely our favorite meal in Croatia. Maybe one of my favorite dining experiences in my life. Our driver Nikola recommended this restaurant, it is in the town of Pupnat, a family-owned restaurant with a very homey/family vibe (the family dog is there too!). They played great 50s/60s music (think Aretha Franklin and Johnny Cash). Our server was lovely, so helpful at recommending what to order. We ordered a bottle of the house white (posip) and were given a small bottle of the house rakije to drink. We had a few starters, followed by 3 different homemade pastas: almond pesto, beef pasticada (my favorite) and the meatballs. And we still made room for two desserts: cheesecake and herb sorbet. The cheesecake was so unique – cows’ cheese sandwiched between 2 layers of a thick/sturdy cake similar to carrot cake. Hands down, the best cheesecake I’ve ever had.

Nonno – Located on the water, on the edge of the old town. We first came here for a drink while sightseeing and then returned for dinner later that evening after perusing the menu. There is a lot of Italian food/influence on this island due to proximity to Italy. Dinner here was excellent, as was the service. The wines we had here were fantastic, try the local white wine (Bire GRK). The seafood platter is enormous and amazing and everything you will want to eat: fish pate, anchovies, octopus salad, goat cheese salad, mussels. We also ordered a pasta with mussels and shrimp in wine sauce, and a salad of tomatoes, olives, figs, walnuts, goat cheese. SO FULL.

Maksimilijan Garden – Outside of town, between our hotel and the old town. Right on the water. We came here for lunch and a round of cocktails – we tried to take the drinks down to the water, but unfortunately there were a lot of sea urchin in the water so we didn’t go in. Would be a great spot for sunset.

Boogie Jungle – This is a club. In the middle of the woods. It is a little weird and wonky and kinda fun to just hang out and people watch. When we went around 11, not many people were there, started to get busy around 1am. Music was initially pop/dance music (generally from 2011-12) but switched over to a live band playing Croatian music around 1. Everyone was into the band. I even got into it though I couldn’t figure out what was happening.